By his calculations using data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, that's $72,591 for his individual wage — or $113,428 as a small business.

Mr McMillen is one of thousands of Australian artists, many of them young, who depend heavily on donations to fund their work.

Traditional sources of income like government grants are giving way to websites like Patreon and Kickstarter.

Many artists are freelancers

Patreon, which allows consumers to "subscribe" to an artist — from writers and cartoonists to musicians and animators — with a recurring donation, has doubled its payouts globally over the past two years.

It boasts nearly $12 million in estimated monthly payouts so far from 3.7 million individual pledges.

"Artists tend to earn less than the median income, so I thought well let's aim for (that)," Mr McMillen said.

"People are now really embracing crowdfunding.

"If I had 300 of my readers who are pledging $25 a month, that would be enough for me to earn my median income."

He said that would help him cover expenses from studio rent to equipment and posting hard copies of his comics.